UConn men’s basketball looks to debut improved defense in Monday’s exhibition against Boston College

Across Dan Hurley’s 15 seasons as a head college basketball coach, the last one was an outlier.

Aside from the years he took over rebuilds at Wagner, Rhode Island and the early days at UConn, Hurley’s teams were never ranked outside of the top-73 by KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency metric. Last year, the Huskies floated around triple digits in that ranking for most of the season and finished No. 75 – the worst defensive ranking for a Hurley-coached team since the 2018-19 season, when the defense improved from No. 178 in the final year under Kevin Ollie to No. 129 after Hurley’s first year.

The main focus this offseason was on bringing in players who will bring the team’s defense back to a championship standard.

From the moment point guard Silas Demary Jr. announced his commitment in early April, Hurley insisted the problem – starting at the point of attack – would be addressed.

Fans will have their first chance to see for themselves on Monday, when the team heads down to Mohegan Sun Arena to meet Boston College in its first of two preseason exhibition games.

Storylines to watch in UConn men’s basketball’s first preseason exhibition vs. Boston College

The preseason AP poll will come out prior to tip-off, likely including the Huskies in the top-10, if not the top-five.

UConn’s offseason moves were rewarded when KenPom released its preseason rankings on Sunday with the Huskies at No. 5. They’ll come into the year No. 2 in offensive efficiency and No. 13 on defense – the type of metrics that could lead to a third national title in four years, which Hurley and his players have reminded on multiple occasions would still fit under the definition of a dynasty.

KenPom projects the Huskies to be favored in every game they play this season – including a nonconference gauntlet that includes five opponents also ranked in its top-25. The site projects UConn to finish with a 25-6 overall record, 16-4 in the Big East.

The numbers don’t mean much, especially before teams take the court.

And results in exhibitions don’t mean much, either.

While it probably wasn’t a great sign when the Huskies went into halftime with a small, 44-40 lead over Rhode Island in their Mohegan Sun exhibition last fall, they also nearly lost to Virginia when the scrimmages were still secret back in 2022 and went on to win the national championship six months later.

Monday is an opportunity for players like Demary and Malachi Smith, freshmen Braylon Mullins, Eric Reibe and Jacob Furphy – all 10 of UConn’s newcomers – to make an introduction and experience their first Connecticut crowd.

For Hurley and his coaching staff – which somehow managed to stay intact, even adding an assistant in former Villanova coach Mike Nardi in the offseason – the first look at their team in a public, competitive environment will help identify areas to improve. They can be evaluated again in the second exhibition at PeoplesBank Arena two weeks later (Oct. 28) against one of KenPom’s preseason top-25 teams in Michigan State.

From there, the Huskies will have less than a week until their Nov. 3 season-opener against New Haven and almost three weeks before their first high-profile contest against BYU (KenPom’s preseason No. 18) at TD Garden.

Boston College, coming off a 12-19 season, is ranked No. 90 by KenPom and was picked to finish last or second-to-last in preseason ACC media polls.

Monday’s matchup, the second half of a men’s and women’s doubleheader against the Eagles starting with the women at 2 p.m., is set to tip-off at 7 p.m. and will air on NBC Sports Boston and stream on UConn+.